FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Sunday 8/19/18

Mike Clevinger is in a dope spot against the Orioles. Which other players should you target on Sunday's main slate?

The beauty of daily fantasy baseball is that the top targets are different each and every day. Whether it's the right-handed catcher who destroys left-handed pitching or the mid-range hurler facing a depleted lineup, you're not going to find yourself using the same assets time after time.

While this breaks up the monotony, it can make it hard to decide which players are primed to succeed on a given day. We can help bridge that gap.

If you need help getting started on that trek, here are some of the top options on the board today. We'll be focusing exclusively on the main slate.

Pitchers to Target

High-Priced Pitchers

Mike Clevinger ($9,000): Clevinger -- who is sporting a 4.05 SIERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 11.4% swinging-strike rate -- is in a fantastic spot against the Baltimore Orioles. The O's had a poor offense even with Jonathan Schoop and Manny Machado, and they sit 25th in wOBA (.302) for the season with the 7th-highest strikeout rate (23.3%). Baltimore's 3.48 implied total is the slate's second-lowest clip. Clevinger is in play in all formats, and we project him as the slate's top arm, forecasting him to score 35.0 FanDuel points.

J.A. Happ ($9,400): Happ is carrying a 3.65 SIERA, 26.5% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate as he goes into a clash with the Toronto Blue Jays, his former team. Our models have him right in line with Clevinger, pegging him to score 34.3 FanDuel points. The game being at Yankee Stadium is a little scary, but the Jays sit 19th in wOBA versus lefties (.306) this season.

Value Pitcher

Luis Castillo ($6,800): Castillo's 13.8% swinging-strike rate, the ninth-best mark among starters, makes him an enticing tourney-only option. While the floor is bottomless as he's allowing a 39.2% hard-hit rate, which doesn't play well in Great American Ball Park, the San Francisco Giants are 26th in wOBA (.301) this season. We project Castillo as the slate's number-three pitching option, putting him firmly on the GPP radar.

Hitters to Target

High-Priced Hitters

Francisco Lindor ($4,400) and Jose Ramirez ($5,200): The slate's top two bats, per our models, belong to the Cleveland Indians for their date with Yefry Ramirez. Ramirez has flashed some swing-and-miss ability, but he's also got an 11.2% walk rate while surrendering a 46.9% fly-ball rate. J-Ram has an ungodly .459 wOBA against righties while Lindor has a .374 wOBA and 42.8% hard-hit rate in the split. Cleveland's 5.52 implied total is the slate's top mark, and they'll be a popular stacking target.

Giancarlo Stanton ($4,800): It's Stanton against a lefty, with Ryan Borucki pitching at homer-happy Yankee Stadium. Stanton owns a 59.3% hard-hit rate and .458 wOBA against lefties this season, and he's been on fire, putting up a .472 wOBA and 48.0% hard-hit rate in August. He'll likely be one of the day's more popular bats, but Stanton has immense upside in this spot.

Daniel Palka ($2,700): There's a ton of swing and miss in Palka's game (34.1% strikeout rate), but he boasts a 39.4% hard-hit rate and 40.6% fly-ball rate against righties. Heath Fillmyer has been pretty awful through his first 42 1/2 MLB frames, struggling to the tune of a 12.4% walk rate and 6.6% swinging-strike rate. The Chicago White Sox have a 4.89 implied total and are in play as a stacking option.

Austan Kas is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Austan Kas also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username akas247. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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